Prunus maximowiczii

Prunus maximowiczii, known as Korean cherry,[3] Korean mountain cherry,[4] or Miyama cherry,[5] is a small (about 7.5 m), fruiting cherry tree that can be found growing wild in northeastern Asia and Eurasia.

Prunus maximowiczii
Prunus maximowiczii, Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: Prunus subg. Cerasus
Species:
P. maximowiczii
Binomial name
Prunus maximowiczii
Synonyms
  • Cerasus maximowiczii (Rupr.) Kom.[2]
  • Prunus bracteata Franch. & Sav.
  • Prunus meyeri Rehder
  • Prunus pulchella Koehne

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1857 by Franz Josef Ruprecht. It was treated in the genus Cerasus (now generally accepted as a subgenus of Prunus) by Vladimir Leontyevich Komarov in 1927, but the original P. maximowiczii remains the widely accepted binomial.[1][2]

Description

P. maximowiczii has white, insect-pollinated, hermaphroditic flowers, blooming in May in the Northern Hemisphere, November in the Southern Hemisphere. The edible fruits (cherries) are about 5 mm in diameter, containing one large seed each. They ripen in August in the Northern Hemisphere, February in the Southern Hemisphere.[6]

Range and habitat

Korea, China (Heilong Jiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and Zhejiang), Russia (Khabarovsk, Primorye, and Sakhalin), and Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, and Kyushu),[1] often in mountainous, woodland regions and in clayey soil.[7]

Uses

P. maximowiczii is useful in many ways; aside from eating the fruit, the flowers can be used as a condiment, preserved in brine.[6]

The wood of P. maximowiczii is very hard, heavy, and close grained, making it excellent for carving and the making of furniture.[6]

Dyes produced from the leaves of P. maximowiczii are green; and those from the fruit, a dark grey to green.[6]

Chemically, amygdalin and prunasin, the derivatives of which produce prussic acid[6] as well as Genistein[8] can be extracted from P. maximowiczii.

References
  1.  Prunus maximowiczii was originally described and published in Bull. Cl. Phys.-Math. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Petersbourg 15:131. 1857 ("1856"). "Prunus maximowiczii". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  2.  Species was first published under the name Cerasus maximowiczii in V. L. Komarov & E. N. Klobukova-Alisova, Key pl. Far East. USSR 2:657. 1932. "Cerasus maximowiczii". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  3. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Prunus maximowiczii". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  4. English Names for Korean Native Plants (PDF). Pocheon: Korea National Arboretum. 2015. p. 591. ISBN 978-89-97450-98-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2016 – via Korea Forest Service.
  5. Plants for a Future
  6. "Prunus maximowiczii". Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  7. "Prunus maximowiczii Miyama Cherry, Korean cherry PFAF Plant Database".
  8. "Chemical Information - GENISTEIN". Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
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